I don't usually build a sermon around a single word study. But I guess it is in order to introduce Psalm 136 with a study of the word that was repeated over and over again from beginning to end. I am referring to the Hebrew word Hesed, which appears in the translation we read as "steadfast love".
Aside from the "unli-repetition" of hesed in this psalm, a sermon on it is warranted because it is "a central theological term" in the Old Testament1. When God described himself in Exodus 34:6-7, "hesed" was one of the key attributes he mentioned. It is also one of the key traits he requires of his people in Micah 6:8.
When I was young, I used to listen to Louie Beltran's program "Straight from the Shoulder" on DZRH. One morning, he remarked that there is no English equivalent for the Filipino interjection "Sayang!". A listener who happened to be a member of a Scrabble association sent a message (probably through a letter or phone call) asserting that there is such an English interjection equivalent to our "sayang!" and it is the word "pshaw". But as I look it up into the American Heritage Dictionary, this interjection is used in English to indicate "impatience, disapproval, or disbelief." Hey, that's not exactly how we use the interjection "Sayang!" I think Beltran is still right in saying that "Sayang!" has no exact English equivalent.
The same is true for the word hesed. This Hebrew word has no exact English equivalent. Bible translators has a long history of trying to render it's full essence. In 1535, Myles Coverdale invented the word "Lovingkindness" to translate hesed into English. This word lovingkindness is still found in NASB. The NKJV translates it as "mercy" but it fails to capture the essence of the word. The closest we could get into the meaning of the word according to the most recent scholarship is to translate in a way that combines love and loyalty.2
When we talk about God’s steadfast love, we are declaring our belief that God is both faithful and loving, and so his promises are unfailing. See how translators bring this truth about in their renditions:
ESV: “His steadfast love endures forever”
CSB: “His faithful love endures forever”
NET: “His loyal love endures forever”
The idea being conveyed in the renderings faithful love (CSB) and loyal love (NET) is its quality of “firm devotion and allegiance” and “worthy of trust/reliance”. What is repeated over and over in this psalm is the confidence of God's people in their immutable God. Since he is unchanging, he will remain steadfast. God’s commitment to love his people is unshakable.
It is true that God’s love is counted among his communicable attributes-- that is his traits that his creatures could imitate. And so it is expected of those who are made in God’s image, and those who are conformed to the likeness of Christ to be like God in how they love. We are to be steadfast and loyal to our love commitments in our family, church, community, friendships, etc.; whether these covenants are written or unwritten. We should not be known as a people given to abandoning and betraying others (Prov.2:17; Malachi 2:14-15) especially when the going gets tough (2 Tim. 4:10; Prov. 17:17).
But though it is indeed true that we can imitate God’s love being one of his communicable attributes, there is also a sense in which we could never love the way God does. This is because his love is tied with an incommunicable attribute called his immutability--- or in simple terms: God is unchanging.
Why can't you love the way God perfectly loves? It's because you are a changing being. Because you are changing, what was once fervent could grow cold. What was once deep could turn shallow. What was once colorful could turn pale. The truth is you are changing moment by moment. From Feb. 17 to Feb 18, you've grown one day older.These little changes accumulate into big changes. If you don't believe this, let's make a deal: let us all return to this place thirty years from now and let's see the sum of those little daily changes in us.
But not so with God. He is immutable. He is unchanging. (See Psa. 102:25-27; Mal. 3:6-7)
In a study on the word hesed, which was published in 1951, Norman H. Snaith [[which is interesting because all the translations we considered here predates the said study: ESV,CSB, NET] explains:
“God's loving-kindness (hesed) is that sure love which will not let Israel go. Not all Israel's persistent waywardness could ever destroy it. Though Israel be faithless, yet God remains faithful still. This steady, persistent refusal of God to wash his hands of wayward Israel is the essential meaning of the Hebrew word which is translated loving-kindness.”3
Norman H. Snaith however clarifies:
“we must always beware lest we think that God is content with less than righteousness. There is no reference to any sentimental kindness, and no suggestion of mercy apart from repentance, in any case where the Hebrew original is chesed. His demand for righteousness is insistent, and it is always at the maximum intensity. The loving-kindness of God means that his mercy is greater even than that.”4
In the next few Sundays, we will look into Psalm 136 stanza by stanza and see the things he did for his people out of his hesed.
As for the moment of closing this sermon, let’s turn to Romans 8:31-38. This we will read without further comment from me. This is the NT and it is written in Greek so you will not find the Hebrew word hesed here. But though the word hesed is not here, the concept or the idea of a love so faithful and never lets go is here.
FOOTNOTES:
1 Iain Duguid, Loyal-Love (Hesed); Tabletalk Magazine, Nov., 2011; https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/loyal-love-hesed/
2 “love and loyalty are combined in this one word”; Iain Duguid, ibid
3 Norman H. Snaith, Loving-Kindness (A Theological Word Book of the Bible; edited by Alan Richardson) (New York: MacMillan, 1951) . Reproduced at http://www.bible-researcher.com/chesed.html
4 Norman H. Snaith, ibid
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